Ben Folds has resigned as the artistic advisor for the National Symphony Orchestra as Donald Trump solidified his takeover of the Kennedy Center.
“Given developments at the Kennedy Center, effective today I am resigning as artistic advisor to the NSO,” Folds wrote onFolds was named the NSO’s first artistic advisor in 2017. Since then, he’s primarily spearheaded the “Declassified” concert series, which finds the NSO reimagining classical and contemporary music alongside an array of different artists.
In his resignation note, Folds thanked his various collaborators at the Kennedy Center and the NSO, and spoke about how much it’s meant to him to spend eight years “encouraging thousands of fresh new audiences to appreciate symphonic music.” He closed by thanking the NSO itself, saying, “Mostly, and above all, I will miss the musicians of our nation’s symphony orchestra — just the best.”
Last week, Trump announced his plans to gut the board of trustees at the Kennedy Center, including its chairman, billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein. He said the board did “not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.” Folds’ note coincides with today’s news that Trump has officially been elected as the center’s new chairman . He’s also named Richard Grenell — former ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first term — the center’s interim executive director, and filled the board with loyalists such as Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Second Lady Usha Vance.
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